


Something for Albert

by The_Supporting_Character



Category: Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Angst, Gay Newsies, Heartbreak, M/M, Sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-23
Updated: 2019-01-23
Packaged: 2019-10-14 19:36:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,831
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17514680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Supporting_Character/pseuds/The_Supporting_Character
Summary: Albert DaSilva always thought he had a chance with him, that one day fate would intervene and he could rest in happiness with Racetrack Higgins. However, when Race brings another boy, only tragedy can remain.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: This is originally from a tumbr post I made quite a few months ago, under the same username, but I've decided to move some of my favorites to AO3. Enjoy! :)

Albert threw his hand of cards down, folding for the turn. He didn’t care about the hand, he kept his eyes fixed over Romeo’s shoulder, at the entrance of the Lodging House. His eyes were peeled towards the wooden door, waiting for the moment that Race would happily bounce in and join the game, or just sit and add to the laughter of the room. But it had been hours since Albert had seen him last, parting after both their papers were gone, with Race heading over to Brooklyn. 

There’s a noise at the door and suddenly Race slips inside. The door doesn’t quite close as he keeps it open with a hand, none of the other boys noticing his entrance. Albert’s eyes light up and can barely stop himself from standing up and rushing over to him, so he fiddles with thumbs. Race is slightly out of breath, with his rosy face catching Albert’s stare. His eyes glide over his both bright and nervous eyes, darting around to look at the boys playing poker. Only Albert has his full attention, unaware that he shifted his gaze to rest on Race’s pink lips that were parted slightly in preparation to speak. Albert’s heart is fluttering at the sight of Race, a fact that he pushes away trying to focus on something other than the tousled mess that is the boy’s hair or the casual way his clothes hang onto him.

He coughs quietly, trying to catch the boys’ attention but they are busy losing money. Without a glance over, Albert swats the closest boy to him, who happened to be Finch. Finch shifted his attention, but didn’t drop the cool guise that was always on his face but still peering curiously at Albert. 

He never thought about it consciously, but there were times that Albert just wanted to rush up to Race and just do… something. Anything. Get close and feel his embrace, inhaling the faint scent of ink and cigar smoke that he got whenever he passed by. 

“I, uh, gots something to tell you guys.” The room perked up and suddenly everyone was at attention. They glanced at Race who stood awkwardly, something that was rare for the kid who always seemed to exude confidence. 

“Did ya finally gets them Coronas?”

“Get on with it, I’m finally winning!”

“Find a nice girl?” The boys giggled among themselves, while Race opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by the door opening up behind him. 

“Did ya just call me a girl, Manhattan?” A short boy walks in behind Race, his arms stripped of sleeves even though it was on the cooler side of spring. Albert recognizes him as the King of Brooklyn himself, Spot Conlon, who situates himself right next to Race, before finally taking his hand. His eyes are hard, scanning to the group of boys who are frozen mid-game, keeping a tight grip on Race. 

Romeo whoops and Race turns his head away with a smile and a blush but keeps hold of Spot’s hand. Specs pushed up his glasses in disbelief while Finch leaned far back in his chair with his arms crossed with a small smirk on his face. Only Albert remained absolutely still. His heart sank, right down to his stomach where it felt like he had been stopped dead. 

His hands stopped fidgeting and his ears stung as he felt a blush crawl up his face as he looked at Race holding hands with Spot. Scanning the room, gauging the boys’ reactions, Race stopped on Albert’s and gave him a small smile, unaware of the swirl of thoughts in his head. Albert starred in response until Race looked away, uncomfortable in his unwavering gaze, and waited for the other boys to gather ‘round him. They did promptly, leaving their cards on the table to go bombard their friend with questions and slight pats on the back while Spot looked on with an unreachable expression. Race had a broad smile on his face and even Spot eventually broke a small grin as he stepped closer to Race. Albert watched on from his seat burning in his own emotions while the only other person at the table was Finch, who cleaned up the cards. With a hurried motion, the chair scraped against the ground as Albert rushed out of the room to the hallway of bedrooms. 

“You okay, Al?” Race called after him, but Albert kept on walking. He stopped in front of his own door, the room that he and Race have shared. His hand fell onto the door frame but he can’t make himself go in, the sounds of the other boys gathering in the living room were ringing in his ears. He could see the room in his mind, the sheets pulled away from the bed that was never made, an extra cap lying on a chair and the corner of the mattress a bit higher than the rest, where Albert knew he kept his extra cigars. Why couldn't he go in? It was just a stupid thing, he didn’t actually like Race like that, did he? But the tears edging into his vision told him he felt betrayed, angry that he had chosen some other guy, even though he was never in the running. With a sniffle, he leaned his head against the frame until a quiet sound behind him made him spin around.

Finch held his own door open, leaning into his own room and looking at Albert in concern. His sleeve immediately went up to hide his face. The rough fabric scraped against his eyes but he couldn’t stop the welling of tears in his eyes. With a small nod of his head, Finch motioned for Albert to join him in his room, stepping away from his own room that would just surround him with reminders of Race. 

They sat on Finch’s bed, the lower half of the bunk that he and Mush shared. Albert had shuffled over and sat down with a heavy sigh and another sniffle. Albert kept his head pointed towards his lap, where he threw around his hands in an attempt to find the words. Finch inched closer until they were sitting hip to hip, Albert still wiggling in search for words.

“I feel… stupid, Finch” Albert took a pause before continuing, his voice breaking with each word.

“It was right in front of my face, too. The past few weeks, hes been disappearin’ off to wherever and I didn’t notice. He was happier, but I thought that was because wes was spendin’ more time together or somthin’.” Finch was quiet but attentive, nodding along as Albert talked, drawing one arm around his shoulder bringing him closer as he spoke.

“I’s just wish he would’ve told me. Wes spend so much time together, and I think that's why I liked him. I mean, Finch, I would just look at his face and think, ‘wow.’ but that’s stupid, right? I tried to be more like ‘im a little bit, but wes was just friends. I wouldn't be good for him anyhow.” Finch shook his head and Albert looked over, peering into his face. His eyes were set with a look of determination as they scanned Albert’s face that was now wet with a quiet stream of tears. 

“You’re not stupid, Al. Thems real feelings, but they shouldn’t stop ya from being you. Yous deserve the world.” He sat in silence, Finch could practically see the wheels spinning in his head as he examined his own feelings. Finch let him lean into him, his head now firmly on his shoulder and legs somehow moved under his blanket. 

Albert’s eyes began to droop as his entire weight leaned into Finch, who held him up like a stiff, but comfortable, pillow. Half an hour later, Mush tried to enter the room but Finch caught him with a glare as Albert slept on his shoulder, leaving Mush to back out slowly and close the door. 

“Thank you, Finchy.” Albert said with a small sigh before finally falling into a soft slumber. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: 'Cause this was only supposed to be a one-shot kind of thing, I had a couple of ideas for another part but just let them sit. Then someone requested a part two, so here it is (hopefully more happy than the first).

Finch opened his eyes to the bright greeting of morning. His and Mush’s room was on the few that contained a window, and it was views like this that made all the fuss over the room worth it. He glanced over at the figure who was both curled and pinning him to the bed with a long arm slung over his torso and knees pressed into his thigh, at his hair which shone underneath the rays of the sun. Each spot of light illuminated the individual freckles that spattered his nose and cheeks, and made the scar above his nose turn into an angry white line that reminded him of the time Race swung a little too hard in an attempt to ward off the approaching prankster. Al looked peaceful, and happy, to be snuggling into Finch, who almost couldn’t contain himself. 

However, the peace didn’t last long as the sun’s rays leveled with Albert’s closed eyes, allowing Finch to catch a peek before quickly shutting his own. He tried to relax but felt Albert squirm in his light embrace, and finally pull himself away from the bed. Finch kept his eyes close, listening to him nearly fall off the bed before catching himself and stumbling free. There was so much space, and after a second the only sign that Albert had been there was the tousled bed sheets and the slow evaporation of warmth from the spot he laid. He gazed mournfully at the empty spot, longing for a few extra minutes that Al could stay, but he understood the turmoil that he was going through; unrequited feelings are tough. He sat up just as Mush walked into the room.

“Really? I had to sleep on the couch.” Finch just stared at him and then fell back into his bed, landing with a groan.

-

Albert tucked his thumbs behind his suspenders, keeping an eye out at the gate. His hat was pulled down low, not that it would stop any of the other newsies from recognizing him but it sent a clear message to the other boys that he wanted to be left alone. That is, it was clear to everyone but the one and only Racetrack Higgins.

He sauntered over, a wide grin on his face as Albert tried to bury his face in his own cap. His mouth was different now that it lacked his trademark cigar, but was left was the most blinding smile that Albert had ever seen, pulling his thoughts into several different directions. On the one hand, he could stare at that face all day long. On the other hand, he knew that the smile was probably because of Spot, and not because of Al. On the other, other hand, he was ready to soak ‘em over all the different emotions he had caused the boy to feel. 

“Hey! I didn’t see you too much last night afta I came home. Yous feelin’ okay?” It was a thoughtful and innocent question, but it sent Albert into another spiral.

“Yeah, I uh, just hadda… get some more sleep before today. I heard the headline was gonna be extra good?” Race gave him a strange look as they walked through the gates together, taking a quick glance at the headline.  _ Concern Rises over the Growing Population of  Birds in New York. _

“Righhhht.” Albert keeps his eyes forward, marching to the growing line of kids getting their newspapers, waiting for Race to fall behind him. He does, but Finch is standing there waiting as Albert walks up. His eyes light up, but his face doesn’t portray his delight. Instead, his expression is one that confirms his coolness, his mouth relaxed into a natural frown, his eyebrows low and intimidating. Albert falls in line next to him but doesn’t say a word. After getting ready in his own room, he had felt a wave of embarrassment. He was anxious, feeling that he told Finch too much, let him in and then -to top it off- fell asleep on him. It was best if the whole thing was forgotten. 

But he remembered that morning, in fact, he couldn’t get it out of his head. It was like the two fit together perfectly, offering endless comfort and assurance with his near presence, Finch was taking up his every waking thought. In the middle of the night, he had woken up underneath most of the covers with Finch propped against the wall, fully asleep. Reaching a hand out, he pulled Finch down next to him leaving them face to face on his pillow. He mumbled a bit but fell right back into a peaceful slumber with an arm now resting on his own. He stayed awake for a bit after that, in the darkness admiring the shapes of his face, those eyebrows that were less aggressive and a mouth that was turned into a faint smile rather than a frown.

All of this made it so when Finch turned to him in line, all he could think of was potentially another night leaning into Finch.

-

It had been two weeks since Albert had spoken to him last. Finch pulled his slingshot back and hit one of the cans lined up on the sidewalk. Outside the Lodging House was the only place that Jack had allowed him to shoot with his pebbles, leaving him to bake in the early heat waves of Spring as he fired shot after shot. But it was aimless as his mind wandered to Albert. Yeah, he was pissed that the kid was ignoring him (hence the slingshot), but his mind was running around trying to come up with ideas to cheer him up. 

He had watched him mope around the Lodging House, avoiding everyone, but especially Race. All the other boys had started to catch on by now, whispering between themselves. He’d seen Crutchie go after Al once, and they disappeared for a few hours (not that he was paying attention), and Romeo try to talk with Albert but both couldn’t seem to remove his glumness. But that had no effect on the rate of which Finch’s heart would flutter whenever he walked in. He was determined to make him forget his sadness and show him that he deserved more. 

A sound came from behind, and in natural reflex, Finch spun around and let go of the rock in the holder. 

“Shit!” Albert’s hand flew to his jaw where an angry red mark had already begun to form. Finch dropped his slingshot and walked over, his eyebrows knitted together as he looked at his mark.

“Damn, I’m real sorry, Al. I heard someone and I just, ya know.” Albert nodded his head but didn’t say anything. Finch stood in front of him, awkwardly with his hands in his pockets.

“Well, I’ll just…” Albert made a move to walk around Finch, to maintain his original path and finch stepped aside for him to pass. He nodded and watched Albert walk a bit, only making it a few steps before he could stop himself from calling out to him.

“Can I just...” He stopped, Finch took one step towards Albert.

“Says one thing? Before ya leave?” Albert turned around slowly, his face devoid of any clear emotion- rather it is a storm of several that Finch could hardly pick between. He shifted in his stance, pulling his hands out of his pockets to fidget with the edges of his pants as spoke to the empty space between them.

“Yous deserve more, ya know? Ta not be sad and all that stuff. Forget Racer, he draws everyone in and doesn’t think too much of what that does to others.” Finch takes another step closer, only a few feet away from Albert who is lost in his own head and stiffens at Race’s name. 

“I hate seein’ ya like this. I need ya to be happy.” Another step.

“‘Cause when you ain’t smiling, it’s like the whole world is empty. Yous make it wonderful, Al.” Albert’s face is obscured as he tilts it toward the sidewalk, but Finch takes the final step until he is less than an arm’s length away.

“Please?” Finch’s eyes were pleading, his mouth dry in final desperation, his words begging for Albert to look up. And finally, he does. 

“I make the whole world wonderful, huh?” His mouth is pulled into a large smile directed fully at Finch, his eyes searching his face for truth. There is still splash of sadness in his eyes but all of it seems to disappear when their gaze meets.

“For me, you do.” Each of them had inched closer, Finch’s eyes catching Albert’s mouth before swiftly meeting his passionate gaze. In one smooth movement, Albert pulled Finch close before softly placing his mouth on Finch’s. Letting out a soft sigh, he pulled away before whispering. 

“Thank you, Finchy.”


End file.
